News

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013

Flushing

If you grew up playing ping-pong in a rec room in the United States, it may strike you as odd the passion the Chinese have for table tennis, and even more so that a master of the sport teaches the finer points in the basement of a Flushing hotel. Comments (2)

Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013

Bayside

CB 11 Chairman Jerry Iannece lambasted the city schools chancellor for ignoring Bayside’s opposition to building a new elementary school on 48th Avenue and showing a lack of respect for the community board. Comments (1)

Astoria

BAYSIDE — The NYPD is asking for help identifying an individual wanted for a bank robbery at the Flushing Savings Bank branch, located at 188-08 Hollis Court Blvd. on Oct. 25. The suspect passed a demand note and fled with an undetermined amount of money, cops said Comment

Woodside

At an empty construction site along Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, plans to erect a five-story residential/commercial building have been stalled since 2009, one of 165 properties across the borough that have remained in limbo over the past five years. Comments (1)

Astoria

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) liked what he heard and so will pupils at an elementary school and untold numbers of passers-by at a subway stop in Astoria, where subway trains have been creating a deafening din for years. Comment

Whitestone

Lawyers for Vince Tabone, the former vice-chairman of the Queens Republican Party who was charged earlier this year in a public corruption scheme, are arguing their client was too low on the totem pole to be prosecuted as a public official. Comments (1)

Jamaica

Queens is leading the outerboroughs in the current hotel building boom, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ensure that visitors to the Big Apple’s hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts continue to fill the city’s tax coffers. Comments (4)

Hollis

Soon after state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) was arrested eight months ago in an alleged scheme to rig the mayor’s race, speculation arose as to who would seize the opportunity to run for the southeast Queens seat in 2014, and now there is an answer. Comments (2)

Whitestone

A two-alarm blaze that destroyed much of a Whitestone auto body shop over the weekend remained under investigation by fire marshals Tuesday, a Fire Department said, but the damage did not stop the business owners from reopening in an adjoining area less than 36 hours later. Comment

Bayside

The 111th Precinct Community Council met in a packed conference room Tuesday night as community members and police honored Officer Gary Poggiali for his 10 years of service as the precinct’s community affairs officer. Comment

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013

Government

Incoming Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio made one of his most closely watched appointments Thursday when he named Bill Bratton as his administration’s new police commissioner. This will be Bratton’s second turn as head of the nation’s largest police force. Comment

Flushing

Doctors insisted S.J. Jung, a Flushing business owner and president of the MinKwon Center for Community Action, end an eight-day fast for immigration reform last week in Washington after he experienced stomach pain and severe dehydration. Comments (3)

Hillcrest

One day after a Metro-North Railroad train derailed in the Bronx, killing four passengers and injuring dozens of others, the head of the FDNY said the department’s EMS bureau was laying the groundwork to be prepared for future emergencies in Queens. Comment

Long Island City

More than 319,000 people in Queens live in households without enough food, although the borough trails the Bronx, which leads New York City in what a family advocacy agency calls “food insecurity.” Comments (2)

Astoria

Film and television production in New York City got a powerful upgrade Tuesday when film executives joined political leaders for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kaufman Astoria Studios’ new back lot. Comment

Flushing

Queens shoppers left the Thanksgiving dinner cleanup for later and opted to hit the stores in search of bargains as retailers opened that evening for an early start to Black Friday holiday spending. At the Sky View Center in downtown Flushing, customers waited in a long line in front of Best Buy that snaked around the parking lot. Comment

Corona

A York College student who had been missing for more than a week was found dead inside a Corona home over the weekend, and authorities were working to determine how he died, officials said. Comments (1)

South Jamaica

SOUTH JAMAICA — A Queens woman who initially told police she flagged down a cab and took a fatal-gunshot victim to Jamaica Hospital is now considered a person of interest after her story changed several times, a police source said. Comment